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POOL RACK.

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STATES HUGH W. COLLENDER, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

POOL RACK.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 295,857, dated March 25, 1884.

Application filed February 13, 1884. (N model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HUGH W. COLLENDER, of New York city, in the county of New York and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in-Pool-Racks;

' and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making part of this specification.

My invention relates to that type of poolracks in which the construction is such that p the balls contained in the rack may be quickly and easily discharged by mechanical means into any suitable tray or receptacle, in which the game-keeper may carry the balls back to the table for replacement thereon.

Heretofore various contrivances have been devised having in View this general object, some of which have been made the subject of other applications for Letters Patent by me now pending in theUnited States Patent Office; but in all such contrivances for this purpose with which I am familiar either some means have been employed for removing the balls from the stationary shelves or racks, or the ball'supporting shelves have been arranged to tip on axes arranged either longitudinally or transversely of the respective shelves.

My present invention has for its object to provide for use an efficient. self-discharging pool-rack in which, although a set of shelves or supporting-surfaces are used which are arranged permanently relatively to each other, the receptacle into which the balls are to be gathered may be held in a fixed position at the bottom of the rack and receive all the balls from all the shelves or supporting-surfaces of the latter; and to this main end and object my invention may bsaid to consist, essentially, in a pool-rack adapted to descend within a stationary supporting and guiding frame which is provided with means for effecting the extrication of the balls from the shelves or supporting-surfaces whenever the rack may be pulled down or permitted to descend, whereby, by the simple descent of the rack containing, the balls, the contents of all the shelves will be discharged into any suitable receptacle held or supported at a given locality near the bottom of the stationary case in which the poolrack proper moves, all as will be hereinafter more fully set fort To enable those skilled in the art to which my invention relates to make and use a poolrack containing my present improvement, I will now proceed to describe the latter, referring by letters to the accompanying draw.- ings, forming part of this specification, and in which I have shown my invention carried out in that form which is the best now known to me, and in which I have so far successfully practiced it.

In the drawings, Figure l is a front View; Fig. 2, a vertical section at the line as x, of Fig. 1, showing the pool-rack in its highest .po-'

sition; and Fig. 3, a similar section, showing the rack partially pulled down and in the act of discharging the balls; and in the several figures the same parts will be found designated by the same letters of reference.

As shown in the drawings, a series of ball shelves or supporting-surfaces are formed,

preferably by pairs, of rounds or bars A A,

supported at their opposite ends by slotted side pieces B B, which are framed together at their upper and lower ends by cross-pieces O and D, and the rack proper thus formed is arranged and adapted to be supported within a case composed of two side pieces, E E, a top piece, F, and a back board, G, all suitably framed together and having projecting front pieces or fillets, H, which are framed over and hold in place within said case the rack proper. Near the lower end of this case or rack-containing frame is arranged a cross-bar, I, in such manner that when the rack proper is in its uppermost position, as seen at Fig. 2, said bar will be out of the way of the balls, which may be on any or all of the shelves, and so that when said rack propershall be drawn down (to any extent) said bar will pass between each set of ball supporting rounds, (or, in other words, the rounds of each ball-shelf will descend in rear and in front of said bar I,) as illustrated at Fig. 3. Preferably the case or frame in which the ball-rack proper is an ranged is provided with a forwardly-projecting shelf or rest, K. This shelf is for the purpose of conveniently supporting any suitable trayor receptacle into which the balls are IOO to be gathered, and should be located so far below the bottom of the sliding ball-rack, when the latter is in its uppermost position, that the tray to be used by the game-keeper will when placed on said shelf, have its upper edge come slightly below the lowermost shelf or ball-supporting surface of the rack.

m is a tripper-catch or locking device for holding the sliding rack in its uppermost po 'sition, and is adapted to be operated by the game-keeper to unlock the rack whenever he may wish to pull it down or permit it to descend for the purpose of discharging the balls from the shelves. In the descent of the slid- I 5 ing pool-rack, when it shall have arrived at its lowermost position for the purpose of dis charging the balls 011 its topmost shelf or set of rounds,'the cross-bar I,which performs the function of throwing the balls out, comes against the upper ends of the slots 0 in the side pieces of the rack proper, and thus prevents the possibility of the rack descending any farther than is necessary for the extrication of all the balls.

The general operation of the contrivance will be understood to be about as follows: Supposing the rack-containing frame crease to be properly fastened againstthe wall of the room at the desired elevation, and the sliding rack 0 to be lock ed in its highest position and the balls of the game to have been stored along its shelves or ball-supporting rounds, in order-to quickly remove from the rack all the balls,the game-keeper, after having placed his ball-re- 3 5 eeptacle on the shelfK,unlocks the rack proper and allows it to descend by gravity, (assisting its descent, if necessary,) when, as each set of ball-supporting bars, beginning with the lowermost set,passes downward past the bar I, the

0 balls contained on said bars orball-supporting surfaces will be lifted and thrown forward off of each set of rounds by the action of the bar I, and, falling successively from the shelves, will tumble into the gamekeepers tray or receptacle.

To insure the easy and proper discharge of the balls as they are lifted from their ball-supporting surfaces by thebar I,the device is made,

as shown, with its top surface inclined from its front edge upwardly and downwardly, so that it will, inracting on the spherical surface of the ball, push the ball forward at the same time that it lifts it from its supporting shelf or rounds.

It will be observed that in a contrivance made as shown and described, not only is the construction so simple that the article can be cheaply made and will be very durable and not likely to get out of order, but the principle of operation is such that the work of moving the necessary parts to effect the discharge of the balls is partially, if not wholly, effected by the gravity ofthe pool-rack proper audits contents. It will also be seen that while the tray or ball-receptacle remains stationary there is no part of the contrivance which has to be lifted by the hand of the game-keeper, so that only one hand is necessary to effeet all the operations of the automatic dischargerack. Of course, the sizes and proportions of the parts and the details of construction may be more or less varied without departing from the novel principle of construction peculiar to my in- Vention. claim of invention to any precise details, so long as the novel feature of construction and operation peculiar to my improved contrivance shall be embodied.

\Vhat I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

A contrivance for containing and effecting the ready discharge, into any suitable receptacle or tray, of the balls credited to the respective players in the game, composed of a sliding or descending and ascending pool-rack proper, arranged within any suitable guiding and supporting frame or case, and a stationary ball lifting and discharging bar or device, the whole arranged to operate in substantially the manner and for the purpose setforth.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand this 6th day of February, 1884.

II. V. COLLENDER. In presence of J A COB FELBEL, EDWARD F. BAYER.

I do not therefore wish to limit my 

